Originally Posted by
Dryce
SSNs tend to be quite good at dealing with littoral operations in far away places. The RN managed to dominate the Argentine Navy in 1982 and also undertake other operations.
I’m not sure that the British SSN ops in the South Atlantic were really littoral, AIUI, they were well offshore using their radar to detect incoming raids once the Arg navy had gone to port. Sinking the Belgrano became time critical because she was steaming towards shallower waters where Conqueror couldn’t safely follow. There was an O boat SSK involved in the later stages used for SF insertion and inshore reconnaissance.
Your other points are valid, and the cost impact has to be factored. A nuclear navy is not cheap.